News archive from 16 July 2012

ALEX Salmond was last night urged to use his friendship with Rupert Murdoch to secure the multi-million pound BSkyB television deal that funds Scottish football.
The First Minister was told he should call in favours from Murdoch to safeguard Scottish...

ING is selling its Asian life insurance and its asset management units in the region as it needs to repay bail-out funds it received from the Dutch government during the 2008 financial crisis. Since the bail-out, ING has sold 15.2 billion euros ($18.6...

Putin has sought to show he is in control after being criticised for being slow to respond to disasters when he first became president in 2000. He first visited the flood-hit region near the Black Sea hours after the floods began a week ago.
The...

Dimitar Berbatov believes it would be "better for everyone" if he left Manchester United this summer.
Berbatov's four-year stay at Old Trafford looks to be coming to a close after he found himself outside manager Sir Alex Ferguson's...

FIFA chief Sepp Blatter has confirmed his intention to rally for the removal of the organisation's disgraced honorary president Joao Havelange.
Havelange, the 96-year-old former FIFA president, and his former son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira were named in...

Big Dance event comes to City Park
Gemini School of Dance performing a routine i City Park An array of dance styles from around the globe was showcased at Bradford’s City Park over the weekend as part of a nationwide celebration of dance.
Hundreds of...

The 500-foot (152-metre) Noble Discoverer, contracted by Shell to drill exploration wells in the remote Chukchi Sea off north-western Alaska, drifted in windy conditions on Saturday afternoon to within 100 yards (91 meters) of shore in an Aleutian...

Eight months of policy fine-tuning have yet to arrest an economic chill lasting six successive quarters and at risk of infecting a seventh, forcing Beijing to opt for near term expedients to boost growth ahead of a once-a-decade leadership transition...

Banking scandals never seem to be off the front pages.
The legacy of the global financial crisis rumbles on and "bashing the banksters' is good copy, especially for politicians wanting to make headlines. For sure, there are some banksters who do...

One of Vincent Tchenguiz's property businesses could be carved up and sold to pension funds and insurance firms.
The tycoon's £3.5bn European Overseas Investments (EOI) owns the freehold over some 250,000 flats, around 1 per cent of housing stock....

Embattled security firm G4S could be quizzed by City regulators over what it told the market about its Olympics fiasco and when.
A probe will heap further pressure on chief executive Nick Buckles who was clinging on to his job over the weekend after...

Imperial Tobacco will take legal action against the Government if it implements plain packaging for cigarettes.
Chief executive Alison Cooper told the Mail: "Legal action is not our preferred route but we have been quite clear that we won't rule...

The investigation into the LIBOR interest rate-rigging scandal is widening as the U.S. Justice Department is expected to file criminal charges against individual employees and at least one bank later this year.
As well as building cases against...

Spain's struggling banks finally begged for a eurozone bailout last week, but while the planned rescue may stem the crisis for lenders, it means fresh agony for thousands of British expats.
Spanish and foreign savers are expected to lose huge amounts...

The pound hit a 44-month high against the euro last week - good news for consumers and holidaymakers but a headache for exporters.
Closing at 1.27, sterling is at levels against the troubled single currency not seen since 2008 during the depths of the...